CLEANING INTAKE MANIFOLD

long story short, i am in the process of doing an oil cooler and a egr delete. (fun job on its own) I have the intake manifold off and it is filled with black junky tar. Just a complete mess. I am waiting for the new parts to get here and am wondering what the best way to clean this is. I was thinks of just letting it sit in some simple green for a few days until the parts came in and then pressure washing it all out. Will giving it a good soak hurt anything or am i better off spraying it down quick scrub and repeating until it's clean.

Also gonna clean the turbo while it's off so any tips on that would be of great help but i am looking for answers to that currently.

I soaked mine for a couple days in simple green and castrols super clean (wicked stuff) and all of the crap still didn't come out.
If you have a place around you that will hot tank it, take it there and it will remove everything.

I just finished oil cooler egr cooler welded, and i tried cleaning mine. I have parts cleaning tank with the flamble stuff in it, crap cleans anything i have put in there. And manifold fit, so i let sit for three days , pulled it out little bit gone but not much. I also use purple power from wally world, repeated spraying and hose downs did a better job. If you could let it sit in purple power i think it would clean it , say a few days

I also wanted to clean my intake when I did my oil cooler/egr delete. I was told by a couple of people on the forum to hot tank my intake and some said not to. I talked to my local ford diesel engine mechanic, and he warned against hot tanking for a couple of reasons. First, some use places use too harsh chemicals that can pit the intake, and they don't get it very clean for the cost. Secondly, it will just re-goo up again in short time and again you don't get your monies worth. I just took some carb cleaner and long nylon brush and cleaned it the best I could. Make sure you wear old clothes because you are going to get covered in some nasty black stuff. On the other hand, if you really do want to hot tank it, I would look over the shops procedures and ask the person doing it a lot of questions. Intakes are not cheap.

I also wanted to clean my intake when I did my oil cooler/egr delete. I was told by a couple of people on the forum to hot tank my intake and some said not to. I talked to my local ford diesel engine mechanic, and he warned against hot tanking for a couple of reasons. First, some use places use too harsh chemicals that can pit the intake, and they don't get it very clean for the cost. Secondly, it will just re-goo up again in short time and again you don't get your monies worth. I just took some carb cleaner and long nylon brush and cleaned it the best I could. Make sure you wear old clothes because you are going to get covered in some nasty black stuff. On the other hand, if you really do want to hot tank it, I would look over the shops procedures and ask the person doing it a lot of questions. Intakes are not cheap.

It would only 're-goo' if you kept your EGR system running but since you deleted it...

I recently did ARP studs and took my intake with me to the machine shop when I had the heads checked. My intake was HORRIBLE to say the least. The shop hot dipped it for $25 and it was like new! Dover Heads in ATL is the shiz....

Technically the only real need to have your intake manifold cleaned is for excessive build up around the EGR valve mixer and clogging of the port that goes from the cooler to the EGR valve inside the manifold.

If you are simply replacing the valve and servicing the manifold, scraping vacuuming of the large chunks of carbon followed by some scrubbing with an appropriate nylon brush and a chemical cleaner is all that is needed. As stated, the manifold is going to soot up again if the EGR valve is still in use therefore cleaning it to the point of being spotless is pointless.

Having the manifold hot-tanked is necessary when the EGR port is loaded with crust which is typically a combination of carbon and coolant that eventually breaks off and gets stuck in the EGR valve, hanging it open. This type of build up usually only happens with an EGR cooler failure that has allowed coolant to slowly leak into the cooler. Many technicians will have the manifold tanked when EGR coolers fail. In the past I have seen too many trucks get towed back in because even thought he coolers had been replaced and the technician (myself included) did a great job with the repair, the chunks will continue to break off and get caught in the valve unless they are completely removed.

I have never heard of any ill-effects of hot tanking. Blasting it with degreasers and chemicals and washing it out with a water hose usually brings poor results and unless you are hosing or pressure washing where the run off is drained into a waste collection tank of some sort you will be polluting and making a big mess where you are working. It can get downright ugly in fact. Don't ask How I know...

If you are in the EGR delete gang, having the manifold cleaned will only serve to make you feel good about it but if the EGR is removed from the equation the manifold will remain clean so in that sense it is worth doing.

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